SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
107 
threw the surface of these formations into undulations, or 
sank the vjaler-table clhexwise, these are the very best of 
soils. Here, again, Nature throws light on the subject. 
It indicates not bnly tlie only means that leill succeed at all, 
but the only means necessary to a perfect restoration ; and 
I refer to this case as being one in which one of the best of 
agriculturists, employed by this State as an agricultural 
surveyor, gave his advice that liming, &ic., was the best 
means of restoring those soils — not knowing the identity 
of formation and chemical constitution, he failed to per- 
ceive the true cause of evil. VV. D. Iv. 
Remarks. — Dr. K. has our thanks for the above equally 
instructive and suggestive letter, He would render agri- 
cultural science an essential service by contributing a 
series of papers to the pages of the Cultivator on the rela- 
tions which subsist between different soils and the geo- 
logic.al formations from which they are derived. That a 
reasonable amount of lime in a soil greatly favors the lux- 
uriant growth of plants, and thereby rapidly augments 
vegetable matter on the ground, by the annual decay of 
said plants, is a fact to which public attention cannot be 
too often, nor too earnestly called. Before any land can 
be rich in sound and fruitful mould, there are certain con- 
ditions precedent of a mineral and geological character, ' 
which every farmer and planter ought to understand. 
These conditions are often wanting ; and therefore the best 
kind of mould is extremely scarce. If any reader desires 
to know what kind of mould we esteem the best for agri- 
cultural purposes, he is informed that it is such as a mass 
of rotten cotton seed, or of decaying wheat, will form. Pea 
vines, and Clover yields a rich mould, but not so fertiliz- 
ing as theUfrom the seeds of cereals. Wild plants, including 
forest trees, produce organic matter of very unequal value; 
but in tracing forest trees and smaller plants back to their 
parent soils and subsoils, and these back to their true geo- 
logical age and strata, it is not always clear where the 
loose earth that forms our hills, valleys and plains came 
from. The debris of adjacent rocks some times furnishes 
all, or nealy all of the earthy materials present; but it may 
happen that the earthy matters have been transported from 
a great and unknown distance, as “Drift,” and deposited 
above all local rocks and their fragments, however, com- 
minuted. In such cases, no analysis of the lower rocks 
and minerals in the neighborhood, nor knowledge of the 
chemical constitution of felspar, mica, hornblende and al- 
bite, as suggested by Dr. Kersh, will give an index of the 
natural resources of the soil. It belongs to another and a 
distant geological epoch, and one more nearly allied to 
the flora fauna of our own time than those of the old- 
er fossiliferous rocks. 
It is only by a critical knowledge of fossils that geolo- 
gists determine the age and origin of the earthy strata ex- 
posed to the surface of the ground. If there are no fossils, 
one can usually ascertain, to his own satisfaction, whether 
the soil is formed mainly of the debris of rocks in situ, or 
from rocks that exist at a great distance. The transporting 
eigencies by which so much earthy matter has been con- 
veyed hundreds and thousands of miles, are water in primi- 
tive oceans, lakes, rivers and glaciers. Icebergs now 
floating from the North Atlantic into a Southern latitude, 
bring, imbedded in them, huge rocks and their fragments, 
besides mud and gravel, which fall to the bottom of the sea 
when the ice melts. Suppose an island or continent to be 
elevated from the bottom of the Atlantic by volcanic ac- 
tion, the new earth thus brought up to the genial warmth 
and light of the sun would be covered with such drift de- 
posits as floating icebergs had brought from the North 
! Sea. The elevation and depression of the earth’s crust by 
i volcanic action, co-oper.iting with water, frost, atmospher- 
I ic gases, electricity, vegetable and animal vitality, have 
I produced mighty revolutions in our planet. 
1 Physical geography and meteorology are intimately 
connected with agricultural geology and chemistry. It is 
impossible to give due weight, in the study of soils, to any 
set of facts, unless we balance them against other facts that 
have an equal bearing on the subject under consideration. 
As yet, our data are quiie limited, and we should labor 
to collect more facts before attempting to generalize them 
into a matured theory. The South presents an interesting 
field for geological researches undertaken with a view to 
develop the latent agricultural resources of the planting 
States. Whoever sliall contribute to this result will ren- 
der the public an essential service. We must make a 
well considered effort to increase our professional know- 
ledge, and turn it at once to a practical account ; and we 
trust that Dr. Kersh and others will lend a helping hand 
to keep this matter constantly before the readers of tins 
journal. L. 
'‘SESCUE GEASS” 
Messrs. Editors — I see a controversy going on re- 
specting the Rescue Grass. I tried it last fall, and so far, 
notwithstanding the unfavorable season, it has performed 
well. In growth, I am told by one of my neighbors, it re- 
sembles his Musquit Grass, but from his description the 
seed differs in toto—ihen in the first growth there must be 
a great difference— the Musquit is thin and weakly. The 
Rescue comes up with a strong spear of a purplish hue; 
very much like Rye ; to which family 1 am inclined 
(though no botanist) to believe it belongs. I have but 
little of it, thinking that at the price it was sold, if a hum- 
bug, a gallon was as much as I ought to swallow at a 
time; but am now inclined to believe it was a good 
draught. Mine has accidently been twice depastured by 
a very self-willed ox ; yet, is now of a beautiful dark 
green, (and has so been through the whole of this dry, 
cold winter) and from eight to nine inches high. I give 
you my experience in the matter, which, compared with 
that of others, may decide the merits of the Grass. 
Whether mine will fully come up to Mr. Iverson’s ex- 
perience, remains yet to be developed. 
Respectfully, your ob’t servant, 
Andrew C. Armstrong. 
New Jackson, Miss. March, 1855. 
Rescue Grass. — Messrs. Editors — The “Rescue Grass,” 
for the seed of which I paid S5 per peck, is not as tall as 
the pen I write with — planted in September in very rick 
land. My Yellow Clover, cold and dry as has been the 
winter, is a deep dense carpet of verdure, utterly over- 
whelming the Coco grass which occupies the same ground 
with it, and it fully and faithfully keeps it down as leng 
as it lives — till May. J. W. B. 
Woodville, Miss., 1855. 
Ground Peas. — A gentleman residing near this place, 
informs us tnat he has dug and measured a sufficient quan» 
tity of ground peas to ascertain that they will average 
105 bushels to the acre ! The land planted is ordinary 
pine land, on which was put a little manure. The labor 
bestowed was not more than would be necessary to plant 
and attend the same ground in cotton. 
The nutritious qualities of the ground peas are general- 
ly known. They are said by those who have made the 
experiment, to be superior to corn for fattening hogs, and 
for that purpose they are raised and fed with less trouble 
than any other crop. They need not be gathered, but re- 
main good in the ground until March or April. Du ing six 
months from the first of October to the first of Apr 1, hogs 
may be turned into the field of ground peas and kept as 
fat as though they had free access to a crib of corn. What 
farmer in Georgia will hereafter buy Western pork I — 
bany Patriot. 
